Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Jack responds to the Express; not ashamed to call PNM racist

Jack Warner issued a media release Monday afternoon in response to an editorial in the Express newspaper title Ghost of Section 34 in which the paper makes the point that opposition leader Keith Rowley was correct in stating that "none of the explanations proffered by the Government answers the key question in the public mind" about the controversial matter.

With regard to Rowley's persistent attack on the Attorney General on Section 34, Warner stated last week that the focus on the AG was because of his race.The Express took issue with that. It stated: "Jack Warner's resort to the ethnic card in attacking the Opposition leader's motion is just reckless obfuscation that could be easily dismissed if it were not so distasteful and divisive. "Mr Warner should know that it is precisely such expediency that has tripped up the government in one misstep after another. The fiasco of Section 34 is a serious matter with potentially dire implications, the scope of which we will yet discover."No one who sat in cabinet on that day and agreed to send it to the President for proclamation, has any moral authority for attacking any citizen who insists on answers."It is a sad indictment of our politics that in a matter of such gravity, senior political figures, inside the government no less, are willing to defend themselves by any means necessary, including by playing the race card. Shame."Warner signed the release as chairman of his party, the United National Congress (UNC), stating that "the affairs of government will not be dictated or directed by the PNM or its band of propagandists". He asked the media to publish his statement in its entirety "so that the public would have the benefit of my full response, as a matter of fairness". JYOTI has published the statement below:"Which right-thinking person would ever expect the PNM to agree with or be satisfied by anything done by its political rival, whether with regard to the Section 34 issue or any other matter?"Because the PNM and a group of individuals who have declared war on the government admit to being predictably dissatisfied, does that mean that the explanation given is incomplete?

"That some persons are dissatisfied does not mean that everyone else is.

"The Cabinet was not apprised of all the facts regarding the proclamation of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Offences) Act, which included the early proclamation of Section 34 and therefore the Cabinet’s decision was the result of this situation.

"The Minister of Justice was subsequently relieved of his post and it seems to me to be unjust for anyone else to be so treated.

"The question remains, what can one do if many persons and organizations refuse to accept the truth, especially when those persons and organizations are of a political persuasion that will never bring them in line with the government's thinking?

"On behalf of the government of the People’s Partnership and the United National Congress, of the latter of which I am Chairman, I wish to reiterate that the affairs of government will not be dictated or directed by the PNM or its band of propagandists.

"Further, I maintain the view that the PNM, by its history, does not represent a wide enough cross section of the population. History shows that it has alienated and marginalized half of the population of Trinidad and Tobago. To demonstrate this, one just had to look at the records.

"For 30 years, not a single Hindu sat in the PNM Cabinet. This is a fact. Past PNM Cabinets had a ceiling of 15 to 25 per cent of East Indians. This is a fact.

"Similarly, PNM State Boards had only 21 per cent East Indians. This is a fact. Since 1962 there has not been a single Attorney General under the PNM of East Indian heritage. This is a fact. The PNM distributed $53 million in scholarships and only 10 per cent of recipients were of East Indian origin. This is a fact.

"The PNM also waged a relentless campaign against East Indians in this country; the Maha Sabha was denied a radio license for 10 years while Louis Lee Sing received his in 48 hours. "East Indians in the public service and State Enterprises such as Feroza Ramjohn, Ganga Persad Kissoon and Devant Maharaj were discriminated against; over 10,000 families were plunged into hardship when the PNM closed down Caroni Limited, and the PNM, through its agents, pursues a racist agenda on certain radio programmes. All of these are facts."The PNM is presently conducting its campaign in Tobago for the Tobago House of Assembly Elections using scare-tactics of “Indian-phobia”. This is a fact.

"I call on those who are offended by these statements to disprove them with hard data. They can start by naming any PNM Attorney General of East Indian origin since 1962.

"I have nothing to be ashamed about. Who the cap fits, let them wear it!"

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JAI PARASRAM retired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Nov. 30, 2013 after a quarter of a century at the Corporation. He was a member of the team that inaugurated Newsworld, the CBC's 24-hour cable news service. He produced and edited the first newscast for the service on July 31, 1989. He was a Producer on the team that won a GEMINI AWARD for the coverage of the SwissAir disaster in Nova Scotia in 1998. Jai left Newsworld in 1998 and established Jyoti Communication. His main projects have involved training journalists, program development for radio and television, corporate imaging, event management and media projects for clients in the Caribbean, Canada and the United States. Jai returned to the CBC in 2003 and worked with the online service CBC.ca until his retirement. Jai's career began in his native Trinidad in 1972. He has worked mostly in television, as a reporter, editor, producer, interviewer, news anchor and executive producer. He has won several awards for excellence in journalism and broadcasting. Jai, who is also a documentary producer, holds a Master of Journalism degree (MJ) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.